


Fallen Stars

by Tripsoverhercats (MissTrips)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Adventure, But Ladyhawke is, Fighting, M/M, The Princess Bride is not acutally mentioned in the fic, Yarr set the Wayback Machine to 2005, chases and escapes, fencing and fighting, rescued from livejournal, some very odd sex between two men that have alternate states of existance, true love?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25434238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissTrips/pseuds/Tripsoverhercats
Summary: Death is common on the Grand Line and Smoker always knew this day would come.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace/Smoker
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Fallen Stars

**Author's Note:**

> (Historical note - the Smoker/Ace fandom way back in the early 2000's had a trope where the two would be adversaries in the daytime, but lovers at night and this fic is based on the two of them having that sort of established relationship. I have done a tiny bit of tweaking of the fic here and there but it's mostly what I wrote fifteen years ago.)
> 
> (Original Author's Note from when I posted this on Livejournal back in 2005)
> 
> **Plants a giant ANGST! Flag here.** Hmmm… also a bit of sex, I think it might even qualify as a lime. Character death warning might also be appropriate. (I may be going to the special hell for this one...)
> 
> Have seen OP now up to Ep. 109. So this is definitely divergent. Takes place two years after the Going Merry enters the Grand Line. The Zeka Zeka fruit and Stormcrow are thought up by me, and if anyone has a possible cool name for a devil-fruit that grants sonic powers, please drop me a comment!

He had received the official dispatch three days ago. Tashigi had brought it to him with a tremble in her hands, a look of utter disbelief in her eyes. He knew that she wanted him to tell her that it wasn't true, that the photos of the mangled... corpse floating in the unforgiving sea was a lie.

Smoker knew better. No one was immortal out here on the Grand Line. No matter how great and powerful and legendary you were, there was always something just a little stronger, a little faster, a little better than you. He'd seen the Pirate King die after all, with his own eyes.

He'd known it was going to happen. He knew he should never have gotten attached. A small part of him was grimly pleased that it had been another pirate - one with no "official government immunities" - that he could hunt down himself. He'd gotten very, very drunk that first night. He studied the report, burned the little information available deep into his mind.

The pirate's name was Stormcrow, eater of a Zeka Zeka fruit and looking to carve out his own little empire in the Grand Line. He had a fleet of thirty, perhaps less now. Obviously, well prepared to fight another devil-fruit power. In two weeks, he'd learn what it meant to fight Marine power.

Smoker stared out the wide windows in his stern cabin, watching the setting sun slip along the water, fire-red streaks... blood red stains. You got soft. You had no business caring about a pirate. He sat there in the growing dark, unwilling to turn on a light, not ready to face his dreams.

"Captain?" The voice was low, broken. So much raw, anguished sorrow. He closed his eyes against it.

"Smoker... please..." all the denial in the world would change nothing. Not for him, not for the figure he knew was perched in the opened window. Feet thudded gracelessly to the floor.

"Do you want me to lie?" Smoker's own voice was harsh from his own repression.

"... no." There was a choking noise, the building of an animalistic keen rattling uncontrolled, escaping cracked lips. "My brother..."

Smoker hadn't realized he was moving until he was there, wrapping the younger man in his arms, pouring his own power out to suppress the building explosion. Ace's head flung back and he screamed, clawing at the gentle imprisonment locking him in against Smoker, containing the raging flames and forcing the heat and smoke out the opened windows.

It felt like an eternity, but in truth Ace had driven himself non-stop for two days and he couldn't maintain the outpouring of energy. The flames stuttered out, leaving him slumped in the older man's arms, helpless from the tearing sobs that shook his body. Somewhere in that endless period as he grieved, there were other voices, rising in questions, being chased away by the deep rumble his head was pressed against.

He felt himself being moved, clothing slowly being stripped from his unresisting frame. He'd never been so utterly detached in his life, caring for nothing but the reassuring presence of the body he clung to, craving the voice that was his focal point.

The water came as a shock, more on the cool side of lukewarm, his body sinking down. His reflexes snapped him out of his cycle of heartache, struggling to keep himself dry.

"Shh... it's fresh. You're covered in salt spray, Portgas. You need to get clean."

"Cold." Ace kept a grip on Smoker's body, feeling it ease down into the tub next to him. A harsh cloth passed over Ace's face, scrubbing away the tear stains and grime.

"Then heat it up." Ace blinked as his eyes became ungummed, looking over at the Marine captain in the low light of Smoker's private bath. Met not the pity that he wouldn't have been able to stand, but a quiet sorrow that echoed his own pain and under that, grim resolve.

"I was right." Ace whispered. "You know. You know who did it. The Marines know..." Smoker lifted a dripping finger and placed it against Ace's lips.

"Not now. Not when I've finally gotten you calm.”

Ace shook his head, feeling Smoker’s hand curl around his chin capturing it. Rationality be damned. Smoker sighed.

“The man who sunk the Going Merry, took her navigator alive. If you want to hear anything else, it will be later." There was a promise in it, but before Ace could protest that even that wasn‘t enough, Smoker pulled him a touch higher and replaced his finger with his lips.

Smoker felt Ace struggle for a moment, but he pressed insistently, tongue flickering against the other man's lips, demanding entry and with a shudder, Ace's mouth parted. Languidly, he lapped the inside of the pirate's mouth, gently dueling, deliberately keeping the pace slow. He could feel the bath water slowly begin to heat as Ace's body came down from it's shocky state. Good. He began to divert his attention to Ace's jaw, gently nibbling along the firm line.

This wasn't how their normal encounters went, usually a heated, fast and furious coupling of flame and smoke fighting for dominance, with only a few moments of relaxed petting in the aftermath. But that wasn't what his lover needed right now. Not with every muscle knotted after his extended dash to reach Smoker, his mind still struggling with the loss of his brother and the Going Merry's crew.

The unnatural furnace of Ace's body helped him as the bathwater took on a gentle steam. Smoker slowly kissed, teased and rubbed the young man into a boneless sprawl until finally the wrinkles on their fingertips threatened to turn into bottomless canyons. Passively, Ace allowed Smoker to dry him off, only protesting when it seemed that Smoker was going to move out of contact range.

Smoker eyed the now clean Portgas. The young man still looked wretched, but he was a long way from the wild, despairing thing that had landed on his ship. "Let's get you into bed." He reached over to cup Ace's elbow, only to have his arm seized.

"I'm... empty." The dark, bowed head didn't lift, but Smoker didn't need to see his eyes to know what the rest of that abbreviated sentence was. Fill me.

They had never initiated sex in Smoker's cabin, not after they had nearly burned down an inn that first time. In fact, this was the first time in their odd two-year liaison that Smoker had ever taken Ace to bed. Collateral damage was much lower if all you did was melt beach sand into crazed, bubbled glass. But tonight was going to be different, tonight wasn’t about the loss of control the two men usually shared.

Smoker knew how to make Ace scream. He’d never tried to make him whimper before, see a lip being bitten and chase it with his own teeth. To actually stroke the other man into arousal, instead of just meeting it with his own. Flesh and sweat, low sobbing cries, the slide and thrust of meeting hips, the twining of solid limbs. For once, it was not a pair of elemental masters reveling in their power and desire, it was… human.

Ace drifted for a time afterwards, back curled against Smoker’s chest, feeling the steady thumping of the other man’s heart, breaths falling into synchronization. Slowly, he noticed that the room was getting brighter, he could see the fresh scorch marks in the rear of the room by the window where he had fallen apart. It was dawn.

“Smoker?” The arm across his chest tightened.

“You need to sleep.” Ace shifted his legs a bit, found them pinned by the larger man’s own, flung across his upper thigh. “Quit squirming brat. I need to sleep too.”

“But…” This flew against all the understandings.

A sigh gusted against Ace’s ear. “The entire ship knows you’re here after last night. Now sleep.”

\--------------------------------

Zoro woke when a small voice cleared its throat just outside of his immediate reach. Groggily, he shook his head to clear it. "Good news?"

The little doctor smiled tiredly. "I found the last piece of the sea stone shrapnel in Robin-san. A day's rest and she'll be all right." Chopper clopped up and sat next to the battered swordsman. "Sanji's lungs are clearing finally. So once his head heals, he'll be fine too."

Zoro dropped a hand on the reindeer's back. "That is good." His dark eyes turned towards the horizon.

"Zoro..." there was a hitching hesitancy in Chopper's voice. "I feel so helpless and I can't stop thinking about..."

"Nami? Or Merry?"

"Both." Came the whisper. “They’re both gone…”

"It hurts. But we’re going to avenge them. That bastard still thinks he got us all." The swordsman gently stroked Chopper's pelt. "He has no idea what's coming for him."


	2. Stormchasers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Original Author's note from 2005)
> 
> While cast and crew are Oda-sensei’s, Stormcrow, Calliope and the Zeka Zeka fruit are out of my head. Paxnirvana gave me the assist in the naming of the Noto Noto fruit.

Nami was a very patient woman. She had learned to be after eight years in Arlong’s grip. She had learned to look into the eyes of someone she hated with every bone in her body and lie.

So, she let Stormcrow and his men work her over, gave them the angry defiance they expected from her. Fought them with seemingly every ounce of her strength. Let them “find” her weaknesses. Believe they were breaking her. She knew her value intimately. Because sooner or later, they would judge that they had tamed her and want to reap her skills.

Sooner or later, Stormcrow would forget to look over his shoulder.

And Nami would kill him.

\-------------------------------

When the Den-Den operator came up to Tashigi for the third time at mid-day with the news that there was a call for the Captain, the sergeant-major sighed and decided that this time, she wasn’t going to be able to use the excuse of Smoker-taisa having a late watch. She stood in front of the door to the Captain’s suite and knocked twice. She was sure she was already blushing.

When there was no answer, she knocked again. “Captain?” A low grumble filtered through the door. “I’m sorry, but you’re needed.”

The lock clicked and the handle turned just enough to crack open the door. “Come in if you’re not going away.” Tashigi saw a curl of smoke disappear from the entry and a larger mass sliding under the bathroom door. “Just don’t wake him up.”

“Yes sir,” she mumbled, slipping sideways through the opening and shutting the door behind her. There was a distinct scorched smell still lingering over the usual smoke scent, Tashigi’s eyes flickered over to the blackened window and finally to the softly snoring figure still curled in the Captain’s bed.

She had been steeling herself to resist the brash pirate’s innate charms but the man half covered in the thin sheet looked… tired. Tashigi supposed that tired was a good step up from what she had witnessed last night…

The ship had rocked alarmingly, the aft watch screaming in sudden terror as smoke and flame vomited from the stern. A pitching race towards the cabin, bouncing off several bulkheads and Marines. She burst in just as the conflagration died, seeing the two men emerge from the clearing haze. She’d had to run a lot of interference that night, handling the crew while her Captain took care of shattered man in his arms.

The bathroom door opened on her musings, Smoker padding out in his pants and jacket, boots still in his hands. “Well, what do they want?”

“Headquarters wants you to report in. There’s been a lot of nervous traffic about the pirate that took down Straw Hat, Nico and Rorona in one fight.”

“I’ll bet. Stay here until I’m back.” Smoker finished lacing his boots and scooped up a folder on his desk.

“If Ace-san wakes up?”

“He won’t leave without looking at this.” Smoker tucked the report of the Going Merry’s destruction under his arm and stalked out the door.

\-------------------------------------------

“OI! Oi, oi, oi! Look! Look what I found!” Despite the noisy, excited shouting, it was hard to see Luffy. Probably because he was staggering up the secluded cove with only his arms visible as he triumphantly revealed his find. “My seat! My special seat!”

Merry’s figurehead.

For the first time in over a week, Zoro felt a real smile touch his lips.

\------------------------------------------

It was the smell of food that finally lured Ace out of his slumber. He pried open his eyes, sniffing experimentally. Marine chow. He’d recognize that nourishing, but bland fare anywhere. Just like he had no problems identifying the unique smoky scent of… memory caught up to him in a rush.

“Don’t burn my sheets.” Ace blinked, looking down at his hands, fisted in the off-white linen and beginning to smolder.

“Sorry.” He pushed his flames back down. Ace turned to look over at Smoker, finding the man sitting behind his desk industriously shoving papers around and occasionally pulling his ever-present cigars out of his mouth to bite into one of the dishes sitting on the table. “Is that the report?” Ace sat upright, intending to snatch up the small stack of paper only to have his head spin alarmingly and his stomach give voice to an angry complaint as it tried to throttle his spine.

“Among other things, yes it is.” Smoker leaned back in his chair and gave the pirate a cool, assessing look. “Hungry, yet?”

Ace paused with his feet touching the floor to give Smoker an odd, narrowed look. “What kind of question is that?” Ace pushed himself to his feet and waited for his legs to firm up a bit and the roaring in his head to die down. Then he stalked over to the desk, bare feet slapping quietly on the sun-warmed wood, ignoring Smoker’s raised brow as he dropped into the other chair set to the side and grabbed for both the food and the first stack of papers.

“That’s the ship’s accounts, Portgas.” Smoker pulled the sheaves back. “Eat first. You need it and I don’t need you losing your appetite.”

Ace bristled back, swallowing a second huge bite. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t handle.”

Smoker reached over his desk, plucked up a single glossy page and dropped it in front of Ace. Bile rose hard and fast in the pirate’s throat and he struggled to keep his food down. The Going Merry’s figurehead, snapped off and floating in a wave-tossed sea. A second photo followed, a lean man, dressed in a dark suit, fair hair stained with so much blood that not even the seawater had washed it all away. Sanji. Face down and lifeless, tangled in a mess of flotsam and one leg snarled in the ruin of a mikan tree. A second limp body below him, Ace recognized Calliope, the musician Luffy had been so proud of finally finding. Another picture, Nami, bound and bruised in a large man’s grip, her eyes reflecting the anguish he knew was in his own. Ace stared at the man, burning the image into his brain.

“Is that… is that the man…”

“Stormcrow. His most noted tactic is to start his fights by using his Zeka Zeka powers to call down a squall to swamp the ship he’s attacking. The other crew is usually so busy trying to save the ship, or rescue those that have been blown overboard, that the rest of the battle is very short and decisive.” Smoker paused and set down the final photo, a broader view showing more wreckage than just the Merry, but he remnants of the brightly painted sail was clearly visible.

“So, they took a side party down with them to the depths.”

“I’d have considered the whole thing to be a flat out lie if Stormcrow had come out of it unscathed.” Smoker tapped the one picture showing the pirate’s victorious sneer. “He’s a braggart, but not a fool. We know the areas he haunts, but not the exact location of his fleet.”

Ace reached out a shaking hand and brushed it over the stark photos. Smoker frowned and shoved a steaming cup of tea at him. “Drink it Portgas.”

Ace sucked down the bitter fluid in one gulp. Marine tea was just as vile as Marine coffee. “How did you get these photos?”

“Stormcrow sent them himself. I said he was a braggart. From an island chain on the southern edge of the Grand Line. We’re still fourteen days away.”

Smoker watched Ace’s face, saw the wheels clicking over in the younger man’s mind. “Tell me, what are you going to do now you’ve seen these? Going to leave and tackle him alone?” Saw Ace’s lip lift in a snarl. “How’s that little board of yours in a storm?” A flinch, eyes dropping to the half-eaten plate. “How well do you fight in a downpour?”

Smoker reached out with a line of smoke, gently sliding around Ace’s body. “I’m running storm drills everyday. He won’t catch me by surprise.” Slowly, flickers of flame arced along the smoke trail and Ace sighed.

“I couldn’t get Nami out on my board anyways.” Ace would get Luffy’s last nakama back, maybe she’d agree to join Whitebeard. Ace couldn’t see the free-spirited ex-thief as a Marine.

“I’ll have Tashigi bring in the charts we have, we’ll see if there are any viable harbors for a fleet of Stormcrow’s size.”

Ace gave a faint nod, tucking a knee under his chin.

“Portgas.” There was an almost amused note in Smoker’s gruff voice, enough to pull Ace’s head around. The gray-haired Marine had his hands on his hips and an interested tilt to his eyebrows. He pulled his cigars out of his mouth and gestured. “As much as I appreciate the scenery, get dressed.”

Ace blinked at looked down at himself. Ah. Hmm. “Perverted old man. You could have told me.”

\------------------------------------------

In the early dawn light, Usopp adjusted his goggles again. No doubt about it, that was one of Stormcrow’s ships, a two masted brig, lean, fast and all alone. Frantically, he shimmed back down the tree.

“I saw one! Not even a mile from here cruising the coastline!”

“It’s about damned time,” Sanji snarled softly. Almost as an afterthought, he reached out to snag Luffy as the Rubberman had been about to pelt off down the coast to engage the ship single handedly. “Ah, ah. Remember, we need them closer.”

A manic twitch formed above Luffy’s scar, but he subsided as his musician stepped forward.

“Everyone, remember your ear plugs.” She had been with Luffy’s crew for almost five months now and Calliope’s songs were her gift and her curse. The Noto Noto fruit ensured that her voice could be anything she desired, even a weapon, but the cost had been crippling.

After all, what good was a merwoman who could not swim?

Luffy hadn’t cared. The Going Merry’s crew hadn’t cared.

Calliope’s voice lifted. “SIREN’S SONG!” And she pulled their enemies in to their doom.

\------------------------------------------

Ace had been aboard for ten days now and the Marines were slowly becoming acclimated to this continuing presence. He was most frequently seen perched in some of the oddest, out of the way places, though his favorite spot seemed to still be on the sill of Smoker’s windows. Most of the time, he remained locked deep in thought, eyes eternally on the horizon as he continued to work on the puzzle that was Stormcrow‘s hiding spot. Every piece of information that the Marines had acquired was pointing towards the largest island in the group being where the pirate had secreted his home, but none of the harbors could hold his fleet.

It frustrated Ace and his occasional forays to pace along the yardarm - where he did his best thinking on a large ship - frazzled the crew’s nerves. Marines were far more disciplined than pirates, Ace noted and mostly willing to accept their Captain’s “ally”, but they were terribly jittery about the oddest things. Repeatedly, his eyes fell down towards his board, tucked securely off to one side of the main deck. He really needed to get out, take the board south where he could really open it up and think…

“GYAH!” All heads on the deck jerk skyward as the pirate screamed, fists clutched to his hair. Cries and shouts went up next as Ace vaulted off the yardarm, twisting clear of the sail, and hitting the deck in a crouching impact that would have killed a normal man.

“Smoker! Tashigi!” Ace lunged forward in a flat-out sprint, flying towards the chart room. The two Marines, alerted by the various shouts and screams arrived in the small room where Ace was frantically flipping through various sea charts. “Where is it? Where’s the rest of it?”

“Where is what?” Smoker growled, taking a hold of one of Ace’s arms.

The dark haired pirate spun on the other two. “The rest of the island! Every single chart cuts it off at the same place! Where’s the rest of it?”

“What do you mean Ace-san?” Tashigi flicked her eyes to the scattered papers. “This is all that there is.”

Ace shook his head. “You don’t see it, do you?” He laughed. “Depths take it, I’ve been stupid. Stormcrow uses the same trick I do.” He tapped the chart. “Do you really think that this island simply cuts off in a nice neat straight line?”

Smoker’s eyes narrowed. “Of course not. But that’s the Calm Belt, there’s no ship that can transit it.”

“I do.” Ace smiled bitterly at the shocked expressions on their faces. “I don’t need wind. In fact, because it’s so calm and flat, I use it when I really need speed. Not the twenty or maybe thirty knots I can do out here, on the Calm Belt, with no waves or wind, I’ve gone up to eighty, maybe ninety knots. No one can follow me and the Sea Kings don’t even know I’m there until I’m gone.”

Ace rubbed at his face and leaned against the chart table. “You told me what Stormcrow is. He’s a storm bringer. He makes his own wind.”

Tashigi managed to rally around the revelation. “That close to shore, he also probably doesn’t have to worry about any of the really big Sea Kings, either. It would be too shallow.”

“We’re still four days out.” Smoker turned and met Ace’s eyes. “If we had a scout to pinpoint the location and to see if an overland strike is possible…”

Tashigi eeped as Ace made one of his startlingly fast moves, flickering in her sight. Hastily she spun to face the wall in an attempt to save some of her Captain’s face. After all, she didn’t really need to see them suddenly locked in each others arms, mouths working hungrily against each other. Just because she knew what was going on in Smoker’s quarters every night, didn’t mean she wanted to see it. No, she wasn’t looking at the reflections in the class chronometer at all.

“Aa. I embarrassed your sergeant. Sorry, Tashigi-san.” She hesitantly peeked, blushing furiously at the sight of the two of them regarding each other. “I’ll do it.” Smoke and flame fluttered across their skin.

“Come back in one piece Portgas. I need that information.”

\------------------------------------------

Chopper and Zoro tossed the last body overboard. Robin ransacked the old Captain‘s quarters, rapidly paging through the logs and charts. Usopp was up by the bow yelling at Luffy that he just couldn’t jam the figurehead there and wait for him to get the ship’s tools to do a proper job. In the kitchen, Sanji was raging over the poor state of the galley’s cleanliness. Calliope was atop the mast, scanning the horizon for trouble.

“Found it!” Came Robin’s call. “I have the coordinates of Stormcrow’s base! We only need two days for the ship’s Log Pose to set and two days sailing to get there!”

“I AM GOING TO KICK STORMCROW’S ASS!!!” There was an answering howl from Luffy’s crew. The Straw Hats were back in business.

\------------------------------------------

Smoker lay in his darkened room. There was no telling when Portgas would be back, even with his speedy board, he’d known it was going to take at least a day, so what if it was now going on just thirty hours? So what if the bed felt suddenly empty? Ace hadn’t been in it that long, wouldn’t be in it any longer when the need for reven… for justice was done.

There was the faint, familiar whine of a flame powered turbine, the soft whisper of a body sliding next to his. A tired murmur.

“Found him.”

Smoker knew he could live without Portgas D. Ace. He just didn’t want to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Wow, that last line did *not* age well, did it?]
> 
> (Original note from 2005)
> 
> Final Note: Calliope stems from a plot bunny that I am very firmly sitting on involving a Sanji centric plot about a powerful merchant/pirate/king (hadn’t made up my mind) that desired to possess the greatest of everything and snatched Sanji after learning he was the best cook in East Blue and possibly even the Grand Line. Calliope was another of his “treasures”. Needless to say, there’s supposed to be a lot of adventure in this plot bunny and a daring and stylish escape. But anyway, she’s Luffy’s musician now and her goal is to find a way to remove her devil-fruit powers. No, she isn’t romantically interested in any of the Straw Hats, they aren’t her species.


	3. Tempest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Original Author's Note from 2005)
> 
> A/N: Tashigi’s attacks are swiped from FFX - they’re Auron’s Overdrive moves. I don’t know if in the series she has any specific strikes - I just finally finished the Alabasta arc - so I improvised. I left attack names in the language they were used in the series, sword names are as translated by Kaizoku Fansubs. Ch’, I need an over arcing series name for this thing.

Inport watches were dull, boring assignments that mostly revolved around making sure the ship didn't spring a leak or catch fire. In other ports, the men left were expected to also keep watch for strangers, but in the isolated, Calm Belt protected harbor of Stormcrow's home, the extra watch was never set. Which is why the stranger suddenly appearing in the door of the powder room poker game was a mighty shock.

"Tell me, where can I find the prisoner you took three weeks ago? The pretty redheaded navigator." The man was tall and well built, muscles sliding over a bare chest, his eyes half hooded behind a wide brimmed hat. Two of the sailors had enough wits to pull their muskets and level them.

"I don't know how you got here, but you aren't going any farther, matey!"

"Matey?" The man's voice dripped scorn. "You aren't any nakama of mine. I'll ask again, where's the naviga..." the two pistols barked. In the closeness of the room, both shots were solid hits, one high and right on the man's shoulder, the other smashing through one eye. Red flew, marking the hits. But it didn't spray correctly, it flickered, flared... glowed like flame. Curling back towards the ruined areas, sliding along more flames buried under the skin. Leaving the intruder whole and unmarked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was I being rude?" The pirates were motionless, faces paling in uncomprehending fear. They could see the man's eyes now, burning like candles. "Perhaps I should have introduced myself. I'm called Fire-fist." And his hands flared to life, fingers of flame arcing into the room, caressing the barrels of gunpowder. "And this will be the last time I ask. Where is Straw Hat's navigator?"

"The fort! She's kept in the fort!" One man screamed in terror.

"Thank you." Flame roared forward, engulfing the entire room.

The Marines were waiting patiently in the tree line when a ship at the end of one of the long piers suddenly trembled and heaved herself out of the water in a massive explosion, keel shattered as all her powder blew simultaneously. Alarms and shouts rose through the sizable encampment as the flame spread, leaping from ship to ship, setting every last one on that pier ablaze as it traveled towards the pier base. Men were racing towards the gathering inferno, pulling away from the outlying guard posts and leaving a wide opening. Smoker snapped his fingers.

"That's what we were waiting for. The survivor is on shore. If any resist arrest there will be no quarter!"

The conversation at the western edge of the pirate’s fortification was, to say the least, odd.

“It’s the Going Merry II!”

“The Incomparable Princess Nefertiti Vivi!”

“You’re all a bunch of stupid assholes! Sakura Blossom!”

“Oi. Enough already, we’re here.” Seven figures paused at the thick wall.

“Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun!”

“Trienta Fleur.”

The wall exploded inwards just as the harbor lit up in a massive explosion. Shouts and screams were rising all over the base and on the far eastern side a synchronized volley of rifle fire ripped through the air.

“Hey! We were here first! This is our fight!” Luffy leapt forward, arms scything through the pirates stunned by the falling debris.

Ace moved through the stone building, leaving terror and destruction in his wake. He needed to find Nami and fast, before Stormcrow got the bright idea of using his prisoner as a hostage. With Nami safe, he could rejoin the fight fully. A lash of angry wind and thunder rattled a window as he hurtled by, Stormcrow was moving.

Stairs down... stairs down. If I was a set of stairs, where would I be?

Ace rounded a corner, nearly bowling over the two men running the other way. Searing fists struck out, lashing into his opponent's faces. There was a clashing ring as one of them fell, the familiar sound of keys. He paused long enough to burn the rings off the leather belt, ignoring the wild howls of the man. On the right track, it seems.

Ten more long strides had him at the stairs finally, the heavy oaken door that normally barred it flung open. He took the entire flight in a single leap, landing neatly at the base. The stink of unwashed bodies, blood and fear permeated the entire area. "NAMI!"

Several screams met his roar and for a moment his heart dropped. Of course the bastard wouldn't have just one prisoner. "Nami, where are you?"

"Ace..." The voice rose over the other cries. He sprinted to the third door. "Ace, is it really you?"

"In the flesh, so to speak." After the second key failed, Ace solved the dilemma of the lock by searing the wood around it. He smashed the rest of the door in and hastily dampened his flames as a blur of redheaded woman flung herself at him.

"Oh, god Ace... Luffy... Chopper... Rob..."

"I know. I know." He reached to pat her shoulders only to have Nami push away, dashing back the tears in the corners of her eyes. Ace rapidly cataloged every bruise, every cut on Nami. Each mark would be another moment of agony for Stormcrow.

"Where's Stormcrow? What's going on?"

"Would you believe I brought the Marines? Who else is down here?" Nami gave a gulping giggle and started, her eyes going suddenly huge in her pale face. A cold wind brushed against his back.

"Fire-fist. Commander of Whitebeard's Second Division. I know your captain has no alliance with either the Straw Hat or the Marines. Why are you here?"

Ace turned his head to look over his shoulder, lips skinning back to bare his teeth in a feral smile. The man at the foot of the stairs was tall and darkly handsome, dressed in clothes that spoke of personal tailoring and an eye towards decadent elegance. At his waist were a brace of expensive pistols, in his right hand, leveled and braced in his left, was an odd, wide mouthed musket and the man's bearing indicated that he expected it to hurt Ace.

"Me? Why I'm here to kill you." Ace began to step away from Nami, flames rippling along his skin, ready to dodge whatever came out of the end of that barrel.

"Indeed." The gun fired and Ace's eyes widened in the second he realized that it wasn't a bullet, but hundreds of tiny fletchettes scattering in an ever growing cone. He had nowhere to dodge. Then Nami was there, throwing herself between him and the path, arms spread. The impact drove her forward, he felt several shards hit one of his legs. And his fire died.

"Seastone shards." Nami choked. "Single shot, it's how he got Robin."

"Interfering bitch!" Stormcrow gestured and gale winds slammed the pair backwards. Ace was wobbly, his lower leg numb, but the normal crushing drain was missing. There wasn't enough stone in the small shards to do more than turn his power off, but if he had taken the full blast...

Ace crouched low to the floor, holding Nami close against his left side. Felt her grip back along his belt, hands steady despite her pain. "He's going for his pistols! When the wind dies, we'll have one moment!"

Nami gave a jerky nod, hair whipping wildly in her face. He looked down, met her determined eyes and spared a brief smile.

“Second line, fire!” Tashigi roared over the building storm, the oncoming wave of pirates faltered but did not quite fall apart under the disciplined volley fire. The first line was completing their reload, already dropping into firing stance. There was just enough time for Tashigi to call for one more barrage. Again the onrushing men faltered and again they didn‘t stop. “Draw swords!” And the pirates were among them.

There were easily three times as many pirates as Marines but Smoker’s men were two year veterans of the Grand Line themselves and endlessly drilled by Tashigi to fight as a unit. The met the wave like a break wall, absorbing the hit, flinging it back. Steel crashed and blood joined the downpour of water. “Hold the line! Push them towards the harbor!” To her right, she could see Smoker’s unit pushing forward as well, smoke lancing through the rain breaking apart the larger mobs.

From Tashigi’s left, twin howls cut through the storm. She spun, fresh pirates coming in on her flank led by a monstrous pair. A small portion of her mind dutifully identified them as Zoan types, wolf variants, the rest of her shrieked in warning. If they slammed in they could crack her defensive formation. Autumn Rain flashed in a double cut, disabling her current opponent and Tashigi stepped clear.

“Eighth column, left face! Brace for impact!” Tashigi raced forward as her left most edge of men responded automatically to her command. The line could hold, but only if someone took down the wolves first.

\---------------------------------------

(Thirteen months ago…)

Tashigi had been under very strict orders from the ship’s doctor, combined with an unsubtle aside from Smoker to take it easy for the next week while her wounds closed. She had felt humiliated, it seemed that for every step she took forward another barrier came crashing down in front of her. And this time, to have Roronoa Zoro of all people place his blades between her and death… for every stumbling step she took, for every sliver of improvement she treasured, that man had leapt forward another mile.

So she sat numbly in her tiny cabin, hands endlessly turning over the remnants of the blade that had nearly ended her life. Horse-splitter, it had been called, a massive thing - stark and brutal with what had supposed to have been an unbreakable diamond edge. Sheared effortlessly in twain by Zoro’s black Snowstep.

It was the smell that roused her, moments before the polite knock. It was sweet and rich like cocoa, only denser. “Master-sergeant, there’s a package for you.”

A package? Her interest peaked a bit. Out here on the Grand Line, a delivery was hideously expensive. “Come in.”

The bo‘sun opened the door with a small white box in his hand. There was a small crowd behind him, sniffing at the air. “For you ma’am, no return address, but the Captain said you should take it.”

There was a simple card on top, stiff plain paper folded in two. Inside was a simple written note and a second, more colorful scrap of paper.

“The strength of a katana comes not from the quality of it’s steel, but the will of its wielder.”

Under it was a stylized symbol of the two crossed swords, she recognized it as Zoro’s original school.

The second paper was written in a much more florid hand. “You had him worried Tashigi-kun! Get well soon!” A series of hearts adorned the entire thing. With one trim nail she pried open the lid of the box. A low moan from the collection of Marines by her door rose as the delectable scent of chocolate-heavy baked goods wafted out. Feminine intuition reacted instantaneously. “Oh no you don’t! MINE!” With one hand protecting the box, she shoved her door clear and slammed it shut in front of the drooling men.

She leaned against the heavy oak. “Strength of will? I’ll show that mangy pirate strength of will!” She really ought to have thrown the cookies away to complete her declaration, but Tashigi wasn’t a fool.

\---------------------------------------

Autumn Rain was held low as she charged, ready to deliver a rising cut to slash both wolves. Everything slowed, each pace seemed an eternity and she knew that her act must seem one of insanity. A woman, against two devil-fruit eaters?

“Shooting Star!” Her blade flashed forward and Tashigi’s battle was joined. Chaos swirled around her, men streaming down the sides of her combat, heard her own men’s battle cry lift as they met the new threat. She had no more time to spare for them though as she danced through the rain, heavy jacket tearing under claws, her katana’s hilt reversing into a furry throat. That one stumbled back, choking and she used the reprieve to press the second.

A heavy punch sent her staggering backwards, glasses knocked askew. She skidded, scrabbling for purchase in the thick mud.

“Little bitch, I’ll eat your heart!” The mass of fur and muscle flew at her, claws stretched wide. Tashigi saw the opening. She stepped forward, feeling the claws bite into her shoulder, but she was already slapping the second arm aside, leaving her inside the pirate’s guard. But not inside her own. Her grip shifted and Autumn Rain came up in a perfect perpendicular strike, laying the man open from belly to throat. “Dragon’s Fang!”

She reeled backwards, turning for the second wolf. Found it face down in the mud, a dark shoe pinned on it’s neck. Her eyes traveled up the lean figure to a smiling face. “Hello, Tashigi-kun!”

“You… you… you’re supposed to be dead!”

A surprised blink. “We are?”

Stormcrow was livid. Half his fleet was burning to the waterline and he was assaulted from two sides on his own turf, which had been secret for over six years now. How had the Marines found him and when had they secured an alliance with Whitebeard? He stared at the little witch cringing next to Fire-fist. He’d heard the tales of the Straw Hat “pirates”. Altruistic simpletons, far too nosy for their own good. Taking them down should have brought him great fame, but this response was unexpected and very unpleasant.

First things first, finish off the crippled Fire-fist, then he’d beat that little slut to death and hang her body from his gates. He needed to cut off his winds for a clean shot, so he waited until he’d drawn and aimed both pistols.

“Die Fire-fist!” Whitebeard’s second had lunged forward at the moment the wind pressure eased in a weaving, staggering dash. Both muskets roared, the lead balls crashing into Portgas’s body, but the man didn’t fall. When he was a single stride away, Stormcrow lifted a hand and caught him in a powerful, focused gust, sending him flying upwards.

Something bumped into him. The girl, she had been behind Portgas and she had hurled her pathetic weight into his belly. He lifted a hand to strike her down and faltered. She had a knife. A knife driven deep into his own belly and she was smiling. Her hand twisted, sending the point digging upwards, seeking his heart.

The pain hit, raw and searing. “You paid attention to the wrong person.” Blood bubbled frantically from Stormcrow’s lips. “And you never should have left me alive.”

The storm stopped as quickly as it had started, like a flung switch. Which made things all the easier for Smoker as his jitte lashed out, trapping and snapping the cutlass that had just passed through his insubstantial form. He followed up the attack with a heavy punch, sending the pirate skidding all the way to the edge of the still smoldering ships.

This was almost going too well. He had expected a much larger second wave to hit them from the eastern edge and there were five devil-fruit eaters other than Stormcrow in this gang. He hadn’t seen but one and the quill-throwing woman was locked now in a pair of cuffs after his jitte had cracked down on her not-so delicate head.

“Takanami!” A grouping of ten pirates suddenly flew apart. Hawk Wave? There were very few men who could pull off that double sword move but the man currently spinning the blades back into their sheaths was one of them, even if he did prefer to use all three blades.

“I have it on very good authority that you are supposed to be dead, Roronoa.”

Fathomless eyes looked up from under a dark headband. “I don’t make a habit of listening to authorities.”

With the lifting rain, Smoker could see the tell-tale trail of destruction leading east, long experience tracking the Straw Hats told him that every member of the crew had had a hand in the carnage, save for the captured navigator. He paused to re-light his cigars and smirk.

“No, you don’t. Which is a pity.”

Zoro snarled, but turned to pull down another grouping. “We aren’t your dogs, Marine.”

No, Smoker thought. If you were, you’d never have been this successful.

Ace and Nami staggered their way back to the front of the building, the other prisoners following silently behind. “We are a mess,” Nami sighed, Ace’s arm slung over her shoulder as he hobbled. She still held Ace’s bloody blade in case they ran into any more trouble.

“Mmm. Smoker’s not going to be happy I got myself shot. He’s going to be very unhappy I got you shot.” Ace’s other hand slapped up against the wall as the numbness in his leg crawled up to his hip. “Damn, the longer these little things stay in, the worse they’re getting.”

“You really showed up with Smoker?” Nami peeked up from her bangs.

“When I heard the… the news, I knew that if it was true… if Luffy was… he’d know.” Ace started forward again. “I was right, he did. Convinced me that it was better if we struck together.”

And it had been. The raid planning had gone so smoothly, not even with Whitebeard had he worked with someone who meshed so well with him. Sitting in the chart room with Smoker and Tashigi, battle lines sketched out, ideas flowing with contingencies and alternate routes, it had felt frighteningly good. The Grand Line needed to count itself very lucky that there were damned few Marines like them.

“Around here, one more turn and we’re out.” There were some weak cheers from the others as he and Nami turned the corner.

“..azooka!”

The wall exploded and Ace reflexively spun, crashing to the floor, shielding Nami’s body with his own. Stone and plaster rained down, one fist sized block pinging painfully off his wrecked ribs.

“STORMCROW! Come out so I can kick your ass!”

Shock bled away Ace’s strength. He could only stare, still braced above Nami at the red-vested figure looming in the newly created hole.

“…Luffy…”

“STOR… Ace? What are you doing here?” The straw hat pushed back and puzzled dark eyes looked at the wrecked interior. “Why are you on the floor all covered in blood and stuff?”

“LUFFY! YOU IDIOT!” Nami writhed, twisting up, one hand planted on the floor for balance the other shaking a fist at her Captain. “You knocked the wall down! Use the door… use the…” her voice was hiccupping and Ace wasn’t sure if it was his body that was quaking or hers. “.. you idiot… idiot... idiot…”

“NAMI!” Luffy’s arms stretched in that impossibly long way of his and Ace and Nami found themselves wrapped in loop upon loop of Luffy. “Nami’s not dead!”

Air came out of Ace’s lungs in a whoosh as Luffy’s arms tightened. “No, but Nami’s probably not breathing right now, Luffy. Ease up a little.”

“No.” came a murmur from the woman pinned between them. “I’m fine. I’m fine now.”

There was a big, sloppy grin on Luffy’s face. “Right! …um, but I still need to kick Stormcrow’s ass.”

Ace yawned and let out a tired chuckle. “Too late there little brother. He’s already dead.” Actually, the fatigue was catching up to him blindingly fast. Oh right, he was pressed up against Nami’s back which was currently peppered in sea stone.

“Ah… really?” Disappointment slumped Luffy’s shoulders. “But there’s still the fight outside!” Rubbery arms twitched, paused and twitched again. “Ummm… I’m stuck.”

“Stuck?!” Nami’s voice rose. “Luffy! How can you be stuck now?” Her rising tirade was broken by Ace’s soft laughter.

“You’re right Nami. Everything’s fine now.” His head listed sideways until it was resting on her shoulder. “Kinda tired. Don’t worry, someone will be here soon.” The body against his was too narrow and rounded, the heartbeat against his chest lighter and faster than he preferred, but the call of the stone was getting too loud to ignore.

He just needed Smoker to show up and everything would be right again.


	4. Interlude - Hawks and Wolves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Original Author's note from 2005)
> 
> A/N: Sigh, this started out as a scene in part four of the Fallen Stars fic, but as I was drabbling out the encounter, it shifted slightly, Ace started talking about his favorite song and I realized that I was describing a point in Smoker and Ace’s past and not how I had set their relationship in the fic.
> 
> But it would not leave me be, and the more I thought about it, the more it had to come out. So, this is a side story, set 14 months before the start of Fallen Stars.

The beach was miles away from the town, a small crescent cove of dark sand swiftly giving way to the dense forest on one side and the endless expanse of the sea on the other. There were better, larger beaches closer to the settlement, but the man building the fire halfway between the greenery and the high tide mark valued the solitude instead.

He worked over the flames, occasionally reaching through them to arrange the logs to his liking. He wanted a long slow burn, one that would last for hours into the night. The sun had vanished over the tree tops by the time he was satisfied, the man curled himself against a small dune of sand and pulled out a bottle. He didn’t have long to wait.

He moved through the undergrowth like a mist, slipping along with an ease normal men could not match. His pace was strong, deliberate and tireless. He’d run more than one outlaw into the ground with his hounding strides, though the one he approached now was a different sort of prey.

They didn’t speak to each other, as the darker one rose from his sandy curl by the fire. This thing between them had been going on for eight months now, this was the sixth time and they had managed to work out a few rules.

No witnesses.

No names.

It ended at dawn.

Mouths met, a broad hand rising to knock the wide-brimmed hat backwards so it could tangle in dark hair. Tanned fingers slid under a heavy coat, pushing it back to expose more skin. It was a reaffirmation of each other, calling up the tastes of tobacco and ash, rum and fire, mixing and mingling as their tongues dueled and hands explored.

The last articles of clothing fell away, leaving the pair dressed only in skin and firelight. With a husky laugh, the younger pulled slowly away, his throat arcing as teeth scraped one final time down from chin to base with a rumbling growl. A swirl of flame leapt from the bonfire five feet away, curling along the sweat dampened skin. It danced, feather-light, along the man, sliding from hip to shoulder, winding around a calf, leaving more flames in its wake. Where it touched paler skin smoke rose to meet it, feeding from it and wrapping thick tendrils about the pair.

“Oh… yes….” it was little more than a faint hiss, an echo of the flames. The last layers were falling away, skin left behind for the primal forces that each man held. This was why they met, setting aside their normal places.

Logia devil-fruits carried a hidden cost that all their eaters had to quickly grasp, or lose themselves utterly. Control. They always had to remain in control. Lost tempers could mean death for any one unfortunate enough to be standing next to an angry elementalist. Sexual liaisons with a logia eater meant that the other partner was willing to risk the self-control of a person who might suddenly turn into sand or lightning if their restraint slipped.

Smoke and fire twirled above the burning logs, the energy from below feeding them both, enhancing and extending the headlong passion of being able to finally let go, to revel in the feel of another touching, stroking, merging with only the thin line of I am the smoke he is the fire I am the fire he is the smoke to remind them that they were not truly one but two.

After nearly an hour of the timeless dance, the center log cracked and fell, sending harsh sparks and chunks of burning wood into the air briefly, momentarily disrupting the flow. Smoke billowed high, flowing away and coalescing on the ground, skin sliding once more over the thick clouds. The fire sparked heavily again and the second figure tumbled gracelessly to the edge of the logs, arms flung wide and great heaving pants sucking in air desperately.

“No and I repeat no, smart remarks.” One sooty finger waved in the air.

The older man looked over, his sliver-gray hair darkened with sweat and ash. “It was your idea.”

The younger finally pulled his feet out of the flames. “Hey, I figured with a fuel source we could last longer. I didn’t anticipate that we would…” he broke off with a slight flush and twisted his head to get a better look at his occasional lover. The other man was still crouched where he had reformed and he could see the lines of sweat slicking the older man’s sides as he panted. “Ooh, so I did wear you out, old-timer.”

With a snort the other man relaxed, curling onto his side in the night-cooled sand. “And you’re just the picture of youthful stamina with your tongue hanging out like that.”

“Is not.” He stuck his tongue out to prove it and gave a tired laugh. His heartbeat was slowing now and he felt stable enough to stagger over to where they had ditched their clothes to retrieve a canteen out of his satchel. He dropped down next to the other man, curling his body until he was comfortably meshed against the taller man. Silently they split the water between them, the lukewarm liquid easing tight throats.

Usually, one or the other would have left after the first encounter, after the satiation was complete. Four months ago, they had stayed together the entire night during their third liaison, tonight was shaping up to be the same way. They were spent, just enough past the point that their normal defenses had not automatically kicked the other aside.

The moon slipped up over the edge of the ocean, a bright crescent casting her thin light across the dark water.

“Tell me, have you ever heard the story of Isabeau and Etienne?”

The broad hand idly stroking the bronzed flanks of the younger man paused. “That’s an odd question.” The hand traced a circle around the flat stomach and a shrug echoed into the other’s back. “Once maybe, I don‘t remember much about it. Wasn’t much into epic tragedies. Why?”

“When I was younger, around nine or so, there was a musician who used to let me and my brother stay up late sometimes to hear him sing. On nights like this, he’d sing it. I used to love it.” The dark head shifted and tucked itself more firmly under the older man’s chin.

“Isabeau d’Anjou and Etienne Navarre were lovers from the isle of Aquila. He was the Captain of the King’s Guard and she was a noblewoman of the court. It was love at first sight, the kind that made bards weep with joy. But there was another man who also desired her and in his rage at her refusal, he cursed them both.

“From the moment the sun rose until it set, Isabeau was bound into the body of a hawk. At night, when the sun was missing from the sky, she was human, but Etienne was cursed into the form of a wolf. They set out on a grand series of adventures to remove the curse, but… it never happened and they died together, still cursed to be forever apart.”

“And you liked this story?”

A soft laugh. “I was nine. I thought that it was a great thing that the knight could have all these grand battles in the name of a fair lady, but never be infected by girl cooties.”

The stroking hand paused and gave the younger man’s hip a stinging swat. Over the other’s indignant yelp he chuckled. “Girl cooties. Someone sang a long, depressing song to you and you thought it was wonderful because of the lack of girl cooties.”

“Erm… yes.” He wriggled around until he was nose to nose. “I was terrified of girl cooties back then. Weren’t you?”

Mouth met mouth briefly and the hand shifted to slide between their bodies. “You were born in a backwater nowhere. I grew up in Roguetown, where ‘girl cooties’ were something you had to pay to get.”

“You are such… unh… a terrible… oh there… romantic…”

Speech fled as bodies surged against each other. Half flesh, half fire and smoke, they stoked each other’s desire, leaving ash blackened bubbles of glass under them as they raced towards completion.

A touch woke him, soft and almost regretful. “Portgas. Dawn is coming.”

His eyes flickered open, gummy with sleep. The fire was long out, but the gray skies was growing bright enough to see Smoker. The man was already in his jeans, boots half laced.

“So it is.” Ace stretched and stood, his body rippling with flame to chase the crusted sand away. He reached over to pluck up his heavy canvas shorts and gave them a quick shake.

“Last night. Why did you tell me about them?”

Ace paused after he zipped up his pants. “It was on my mind just then. Wolves and hawks. It seemed appropriate somehow. Isabeau had a collar for him, so people would see that he belonged to her, even though he’d never leave her side. Wolves are like that. Loyal unto death. But Etienne was forever chasing down the hawk, even with her having jessies. The only thing a hawk is true to, no matter who holds their ties, is a mate.”

Ace set his hat on his head and stamped his feet into his boots. His board was just halfway up the beach. “I did wonder though, if they envied us.”

Smoker lit his cigars, looking out to where the first glimmer of sun was beginning to edge over the waves.

“Make sense, Fire-fist.”

“Our curse… we’re both cursed with the dawn, Smoker.” Then he was walking away, Whitebeard’s brand emerging in the light, mimicking the mark of justice on Smoker’s back.

“See you around, old wolf.”

\-----------------------------------------------

Omake

“Tashigi, have you ever heard the story of Isabeau and Etienne?”

Smoker’s master-sergeant looked up and a fond expression crossed her face. “Oh, I remember that song! It was a favorite of mine as a child!” A dreamy smile crossed her lips.

“It was?”

“Mmm… yes. Etienne Navarre had Red Dragonfly, one of the 8 Noble Swords of Grace. And because he was trapped as an animal every night, Isabeau learned to use it to defend herself. She slew the Shadow Bandit with it when he had trapped Etienne and was going to skin him alive. It’s one of the songs that inspired me to follow in her footsteps as a swordswoman!”

Smoker sighed.


	5. Flotsam and Jetsam

The aftermath of a battle was occasionally as chaotic as the conflict. Screams of the wounded mingled with the wails of freed prisoners and the curses of newly captive outlaws. Smoker stalked through it all, instilling order in his wake, barking harsh commands and soothing words. Eleven of his men dead, another eighteen wounded, six of them seriously. Forty-eight living prisoners, two of them devil-fruit eaters. Nineteen rescued captives. Against a force that had been initially ten times the size of his own, it should be considered a stunning victory.

Knowing the government, it would become a stunning lie. He knew, even before his own - slightly - edited report, all mention of the Straw Hat pirates and Fire-fist Ace would be censored. Oh, he had enemies that would love to tear him down for his collusion with these pirates, but the lies swung both ways. There was no treason, no aiding of pirates if they were never “there”. So the scales balanced.

He completed his swing around the large encampment, casting one last look at the nine surviving ships. They were prizes all on their own, well built, well armed and utterly impotent, trapped in a cove on the Calm Belt. He could at least pick them over to replenish his own ship under prize rights, that is if the Straw Hats didn’t clean out the entire line first. He could see three of them moving through one of the ships already.

First things first, find out where Portgas was. He hadn’t seen the younger man since the start of the battle, nor had he seen any sign of his younger brother. Which meant they were probably together and getting themselves into some sort of mischief. He turned towards the fort which bore signs of both D. brothers unique entry styles.

Getting shot, Ace decided blearily, was going to be very high on his list of things never to do again. He'd managed to avoid that happening for the first eighteen and a half years of his life and after eating the Mera Mera fruit, it really hadn't been a problem anymore until now. Of course the amount of sea stone he was leaning against, trapped against Nami's back helped. The numbing drain was strongest right against his chest where the holes were. That kept the pain at bay and prevented him from going mad with the need to shift forms and heal himself.

The sea stone drain also meant he could quite happily tune out the building argument. Apparently the reason Luffy was stuck was because every loop of his arms that had passed around Nami's torso was also being affected by the sea stone and his younger brother couldn't retract himself. Zoro had shown up first and was trying his best to undo the mess.

"Damn it Luffy, stop wiggling that bit!"

"I'm not! I can't feel anything there." Ace snickered as his brother's head craned a few feet forward to see what his swordsman was doing. "What's so funny, Ace?"

"You look like a goose." For some reason that was terribly amusing to him and Ace continued to snicker until he began coughing. For a long minute he couldn't stop and he ended up dizzy and nauseated, a dark metallic taste coating his tongue.

"OK, that isn't good." Zoro's voice was floating somewhere off Ace's ear. "I'm getting Robin and Chopper now." Feet scraped against the floor and began to head away. "What the fuck do you want?" Zoro's voice had dropped, harsh and ugly.

The familiar scent of smoke wafted past his face, brushing lightly in his hair. "So, I was right, you did manage to get yourself into trouble."

"We don't need you here, so go." Yep, Ace mused, that was Zoro in a carefully restrained angry snit.

"Zoro," Nami sounded a bit breathless, being squashed in the middle. "Ace said, when he found me... he said he came with the Marines."

Zoro wasn't happy at the sheer number of sudden reversals his day was taking. What had started as a fairly straightforward fight was getting more and more complex. First the Marines had shown up to interfere (and just where were they three weeks ago when they could have actually used the help?) led by none other than Smoker (and hadn't he gotten tired of following them all over the Grand Line yet?), then he had found out that Stormcrow had the ill grace to die before Zoro could get a swipe in (though he couldn't really begrudge Ace and Nami the coup) and his captain had managed to get himself in another mess.

Nami was alive though. He clung to that fact, feeling it rewarm a part of his heart that had gone so terribly cold that first morning after, when both Sanji and Calliope had still been missing as well. Usopp and he had swum back out to the wreckage of the Going Merry after Stormcrow's fleet had plundered her corpse and left. Usopp had found Sanji and Calliope trapped in part of the wreckage, left for dead by Stormcrow, the merwoman struggling to stay awake in the draining sea so she could breathe for both of them.

There had been no sign of Nami. They had grieved for her as they fought back to their feet, promised their lost nakama suitable vengeance. Trust Nami to find a way through anyways, though. The wit... woman was smart.

Which left them with a very large smoking problem and the only reliable solution was slowly fading away from a sea stone wound. Why in the hells had Ace come with him?

Smoke was pouring from the Marine, sliding along the floor and twining into the huddle that was Luffy, Nami and Ace. Zoro’s hand convulsed on his white katana but the blade stayed sheathed. Several years of running into the Marine had proven that no swordsman without a sea stone weapon was ever going to so much as nick the White Hunter.

The smoky coils settled, flinching away from direct contact with Nami, and began to push. Luffy’s arms stretched further outwards and upwards, slipping Nami and Ace out from under them.

Smoker’s scowl grew deeper as Ace began coughing up deep red splatters of blood the moment he was free. One of the two bullet holes bore the frothy signs of a lung hit. The pirate tried to curl in on himself, but one leg dragged limply.

“It’s the fletchette round,” Nami said. “I tried to take the entire hit, but some of it still got Ace.”

“Need… to get… them out.” Ace coughed and spat again. “Keeping me from healing.”

Smoker could feel the two shards in Ace’s leg himself, repelling his smoke and trying to drain away his power. They lay just under the skin, whoever designed this weapon had come up with a near perfect incapacitator against devil-fruit users.

The swordsman leaned out the door, keeping one eye on Smoker. “Chopper! Get over here now!” His bellow carried across the entire battlefield.

Ace leaned back against the tilted palm tree and used the harsh bark to scrub at an itchy spot. Chopper with the aid of Smoker’s own medic had been able to pull the shards out of his leg and it had been such a relief to flash over into fire and fix everything. The rest of the day had been spent with a lot of tale-telling, more than a bit of looting (apparently Nami’s vast map collection had been snatched by Stormcrow and the woman was over the moon to get them back) and one temporary truce. Smoker had looked the Straw Hats up and down and stated that he had no room to haul them in as well, so he’d do it later.

By the time the evening had descended, a sense of order had fallen over the entire compound and the evening meal had turned out rather festive as both the Marines and Luffy’s crew celebrated their victories. The party had been going on in full swing for well over four hours now and had finally passed the noisy jumping and dancing around the fire stage. The tentative truce was holding, pirates and Marines settled to either side of the large fire pit and the rum and ale appropriated out of Stormcrow's cellars was keeping everyone well lubricated.

The Straw Hats were clustered around their returned Navigator, she couldn't so much as twitch without her crew leaping on her littlest need. Well, Sanji was leaping anyways. Ace wasn't surprised to see the overwrought blonde finally pitch over in a snoring heap after Chopper had handed him a drink. That little reindeer was damned good at sleight-of-hand. Sanji was curled up now next to Nami, back pressed against her thigh, one arm wrapped around Zoro's waist and dead to the world. Ace eyed the still sizable mound of food scattered around the fire, the chef had burned off a lot of nervous energy in the few hours he'd been let loose in the fort's galley. The swordsman himself appeared asleep, but the tiny twitches his hand made towards his katana whenever someone not from his crew got within fifteen feet of Nami proved that he was quite awake and ready to protect his own.

Luffy was on Nami's other side, dark head leaning against her tattooed shoulder, his hat resting securely on her head. Their hands were intertwined and every once in a while one of the two would lean over for a kiss. Well... really that wasn't much of a surprise, even Luffy could get a clue after two years. The reindeer doctor was currently in his true form, tired after hours of intensive surgery, providing a rest for Nami’s carefully tended and bandaged back and chatting with Robin, who had unearthed a number of books from Stormcrow's cache.

On the edge closest to the Marines, Usopp and Calliope were apparently around eight songs into a challenge with Smoker's crew. The game was, as near as Ace could figure, who could sing the worst song. "The Great Captain Usopp" however was trouncing all comers. Usopp's mighty and tuneless tonsils had been dangerous enough before he'd gotten a professional backer. The sounds Calliope could make to support Usopp's wild and ever changing tales gave the whole thing an embellishment the Marines were finding hard to match.

A curl of smoke wisped along his wrist. Ace turned his head, slowly tracking it into the darkness, eventually finding the faint, twin glowing coals that marked out Smoker's location further down the beach. The smoke gave a light tug and Ace let it urge him away from the gathering.

"Done managing everything?" Ace asked lightly as he reached the other man.

"Hmm, yes." One final tug and Ace was nestling into Smoker's arms, resting his chin on the other's shoulder. "I'm leaving in the morning. Near three weeks to tack back to the nearest base that can take my haul and I'll be back chasing your brother."

"Why? Why do you even still bother?" Two years of hunting and time and again Smoker let Luffy slip away.

"What does Straw Hat do? Every place he goes?"

Ace snorted softly. "Easy, he stirs up trouble."

"Not precisely. He makes it visible. No one else can poke a rat's nest better than another rat."

Ace's head reared back and he regarded Smoker with an astonished laugh. "Set a thief to catch a thief? Smoker, you are a devious bastard under all that nobility after all. No wonder I love you."

Oh, I did NOT just say that like some sappy love struck fool. Ace’s brain was running in frantic little circles. Where in the depths had that slip come from? He opened his mouth to say something, anything to oh… well… that’s good too…

Smoker had forestalled any words by simply taking advantage of Ace’s parted lips and sealing them with his own, tongues instantly tangling. The touch of a broad hand ghosted along his chest, stopping to reassure themselves that the wounds were truly gone before a thumb reached one of Ace’s flat nipples. Gave it a tug, began to tease it into hardness.

“Uhn… not fair.” Ace moaned, breaking free of Smoker’s mouth to gasp as his body responded to the maddening friction. Two straight weeks of experimenting on each other’s flesh had Smoker knowing all of Ace’s hot spots, but he wasn’t about to let the Marine have free rein. Ace had learned a thing or two himself and his mouth nuzzled up towards where jaw and ear met. Teeth nipped at a lobe, sucking playfully on that bit of skin as his arm slipped under Smoker’s jacket to access the long line of Smoker’s spine.

There was an answering growl from his lover and Ace felt his flames surge in response. There was no need anymore to keep themselves in check, they weren’t on a very flammable ship this time. And as much as he had found the nights of the past few weeks pleasurable, as much as he had found himself content to be curled against another body, he’d been craving the fire. Wanted to twine with the smoke, gorge himself on the other’s essence as he was being plundered in return.

Smoker didn’t need any encouragement. Clothing was abandoned, then skin was left behind and finally thought and reason. Smoke weaved through flame, smoldering, sparking, falling together. Until finally both broke apart, flesh sliding back into place, blood roaring, lungs heaving and muscles quivering from the aftershocks of complete release.

“You know, we’ve broken the curse.” Smoker said as Ace rested against his chest.

“What?” The dark head lifted, Ace looking Smoker in the eyes.

“For two weeks now, the sun has come and gone. It… it wasn’t so difficult after all.”

Ace blinked owlishly at Smoker as the other man rose to dress, quietly accepting his clothes when the Marine offered them up. “I hadn’t thought about it.” Which was true enough, after the first morning’s impulse to leave had passed with Ace still at Smoker’s side, the following days had been… easy. It had been so easy to stay with him… and Ace suddenly froze at the look in Smoker’s eyes.

"Come with me." Ace’s trembled at those three words.

"Don't." He whispered. "Please... don't." Ace wanted to chase those words down, burn them, anything to not have to acknowledge that they had ever been said. The three he had said earlier in the night paled against the terrible weight of Smoker’s reply.

"Very soon, your brother and your Captain are going to meet. Do you think Whitebeard is going to let you stay neutral?" Ace's shoulders tightened, his back hunching as the words sliced into him the way a blade never could. Flames danced along his skin, nervous flickering light reflecting the turmoil inside.

"It hasn't come to that yet." He suddenly couldn't stay here, not with his brother, alive and laughing with his friends, not with Smoker's offer outstretched between them like a raised hand beckoning him to follow. Not with the fact staring him in the face that when he had received the news of Luffy's death, it hadn't been Whitebeard he had turned to.

Flame roared, a spiraling twist into the air, arcing swiftly towards the pier face where he had left his board when he began his assault on Stormcrow's fleet. He reformed and threw off the line, energy pouring though his feet and kicking the powerful turbine into full power. He was running, he knew it. Because Smoker was right about what was coming, because his heart wanted to take up the offer, because he still owed Whitebeard his loyalty.

Smoker watched him flee. "Fly as hard as you want, hawk. But don't think about it too long." He had rattled the young man's cage hard there, but time was running out. Straw Hat and Whitebeard were closing on each other and he didn't think Whitebeard was going to bow out. Straw Hat certainly wasn't going to stop. Smoker wondered if he had a cell large enough to fit Whitebeard in, he'd have to talk with Tashigi about that when they hit the Marine base.

Pausing to pull out his cigars, Smoker eyed the growing light of the dawn. It was time to go.

\- Owari -


End file.
